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These 30 Pics Show How Dystopic Our Society Already Is, And It’s Pretty Terrifying
While we may imagine a dystopian future of thought police, killer robots, and nuclear fallout, the real future predictions are much more boring. Instead of being brutally brainwashed and enslaved by fascist, authoritarian regimes, we have willingly enslaved ourselves. By allowing the top 1% to get exponentially richer, we drown in a sea of debts, tech, advertising, endless wars, environmental destruction, addictions, depression... the list goes on.
Brilliant, isn't it? But it's ok; there's always Facebook to scroll through (Bored Panda too, obvs), Netflix to watch, chemical-laden meals to consume, manufactured outrages over a mermaid's skin color to comment on. Who's got time for thoughtful resistance in this sick, sad world? Even those that think they are resisting by electing bigoted billionaires, bankers and Eton toffs to represent them are simply playing into their hands, as their dishonest, scaremongering claptrap divides us ever further over political, racial and gender lines!
Sometimes we need to take a step back and see the forest for the trees. This list, compiled by Bored Panda, contains some pretty terrifying examples of present-day dystopian society, things that make you realize that beyond all the distractions of trying to survive and thrive in the rat race, something's not quite right with this world.
So if you didn't find the sinister scenes of mindless automatons chanting “send her back” chilling enough, scroll down below to get a reality check on the spookily Orwellian society we are allowing to be constructed, and let's see if we can fix our near future in the comments! If you want to see even more proof of our dystopian world, be sure to check out our previous list!
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Immigrants
The term 'boring dystopia was coined by the late academic and cultural theorist Mark Fisher in 2015. He used it to refer to the "bland, mildly coercive signs that abound in late-stage capitalist society, which foster a vague sense of isolation or unease."
He started a Facebook group that documented these signs as a way to develop consciousness about the world around us. "It was understood from the start to be a consciousness-raising exercise, encouraging people to perceive the actual state of Britain rather than the PR state," Fisher said in an interview with Vice. "Which is surprisingly hard, because there's this mixture of Silicon Valley ideology, PR and advertising which distracts us from our own aesthetic poverty, and the reality of what we have. Which is just all these crap robots…"
This Is Caleb. Caleb Has A Degree In Zoology And Asks His Customers What Their Favorite Animal Is. He Gives Them Facts While Completing Their Orders!
Real Problem
"Boring Dystopia was partly about the fact that no one can care about stuff any more," said Fisher. "It's not that they don't care, but in a city like London, or any intensely pressured urban metropolis—add to that the pressures of capitalist cyberspace and people just feel like they perpetually have no time."
"Our resources for caring are depleted, and that has aesthetic consequences."
Charity
Saddest part is that a lot of celebs even get paid to promote a charity.
Put The Blame Where It Belongs
Let's not forget the politicians and celebrities who fly all over who have huge SUVs .
The Facebook group was short-lived, with Fisher quickly becoming disillusioned with Facebook itself. "For me the point at which the group started to go downhill was when it became like every other Facebook group. It was just recirculating 'content' and sending links, keeping people inside what I would call capitalist cyberspace instead of looking outside at their own environment. It felt like it was reinforcing the condition it was intended to displace," he explained.
"It didn't work at that scale, and you could feel that it wasn't the right place for it… It was just an experiment, and Facebook probably wasn't the right platform. I didn't want it to be diluted."
A Child Can’t Stay On The Transplant List, Solely Because He’s Homeless
Calling An Ambulance In USA
After Fisher's tragic death in 2017 at the age of 48, his work remains as his legacy and is as important and relevant as it's ever been. His 2009 book Capitalist Realism is a must-read for anyone wanting to understand the modern world, and his 'Boring Dystopia' group lives on mainly in the subreddit r/ABoringDystopia.
What do you think? Are we truly living in a boring dystopia? Scroll down below to see the rest of the examples for yourself, and let us know what you think in the comments!
Stealing An Education
Need Books? Donate Plasma!
I Had To Pay $39.35 To Hold My Baby After He Was Born
Anything Different Would Simply Be Un-American
There is one thing we can do: Get out and vote. Vote for the senators and representatives who aren't afraid to push for single-payer, universal health care. And if someone calls you a socialist, tell them to look at Japan, which a) is hardly socialist, b) has the world's longest life expectancy, and c) has a well-established universal health care system.
Health Care
Don't have to wait for it. Come to Ukraine, we are constantly crowdfunding some sick child's care.
Watch This Advert Or Choke To Death
If you need to watch a video before trying to do something to help, it doesn't matter whether there are ads or not; the person will probably die anyway. That's the reason why everybody should learn some very basic first aid skills, like the Hemilich Maneuver, at school, instead of soooo much useless rubbish.
Only In America Would A Restaurant Display On The Wall That They Don’t Pay Their Staff Enough To Live On
Public Relations
And people working in the media industry earn way more than any manual laborer or most of the engineers, scientists, medical doctors...
Remember The Panama Papers?
"Today My Client Was Excited To Push The Elevator Buttons On The Way To Her First Deportation Hearing"
My niece is 5. I cannot imagine her having to represent herself in any legal matters. I'm 30, and I can't imagine representing myself in any legal matters.
I Don't Like This Episode Of Black Mirror
Capitalism In A Nutshell
Good Article. No Surprises. “It’s Not About Wanting A Pay Raise Or Extra Income, It’s Just About Wanting A Livable Wage”
And yet Trump has the audacity to say how amazing the country is doing and how everyone is wealthier than ever. Prick.
Both Are In The Wrong But Look At How The Pictures Are Depicted
The blindfold of Lady Justice is eaten by the moths and she turns out to be a racist, conservative b!tch.
Not A Bad Plan
I knew a girl who got Hep C from her ex-boyfriend. Her insurance would not pay to fix it unless she was very very ill. As far as I know she still has it. Had she gone to jail she would have been treated and it wouldn't be an issue anymore.
It's All About Priorities
Bathroom Sticker
Teeth Are A Luxury Only Paying Customers Are Allowed
I still have all of my teeth- one of them just stays in my drawer now.
Ambulances For 3k? Lets Just Call An Uber
in the US, the cost for an ambulance to take you to the ER is as expensive as buying a new car.
Positive News
This Feels Straight Out Of 1984...
This Is How Expensive It Is To Attempt Suicide In The US
Open Office
The 90s when people were angry about their well paid, stable jobs and about their peaceful life...
Note: this post originally had 62 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
When I was a teenager my dad was given the chance to move to the USA and the entire family got green cards and social security numbers. I’ve never been so happy that he turned down the job and we stayed where we are. While some of my family did go back in later years for a few months, no one wanted to live there full time and moved to Australia instead. :-)
I feel like most of these are American issues. I live in the USA, and I'm so sick of everything wrong with our country. My 11 year old sister is already worrying about affording college, and I actually felt guilty for calling an ambulance for my mom when I found out how much it had cost. When I go to school, I automatically make a plan for how I would get out of an school shooting. It cost $300 for me to go to Urgent Care and find out I've had Tendonitis in my wrist for 6 months. And, compared to the kids being held in cages, my family is lucky. I'm hoping I'll be able to save enough money to go to college in Canada, and hopefully live there when I'm old enough. For now I just get to sit and watch while my country falls to pieces :(
America: Land of the free for only the wealthy and the ultra-privileged. I was born here. I grew up here. I’m in poverty here, after struggling since age 15 to work in the “real world”, where your employer can abuse you to the point where you end up on disability (if you’re lucky; I COULD be homeless and worse off, but I suppose they could still drive me to that point with further social system cuts). What a shithole country. It is getting shittier by the month, as our current dumpster fire administration makes it even better to be rich and even worse to be poor. And yet, people support Trump and his cronies because they think he hates the same people they hate. No, the democrats weren’t fixing this s**t, either. Vote anti-corporate, or you will just be voting for more of the same. Under republicans, it’s like an impending disaster in realtime. Under democrats, it’s a boring dystopia that people are slowly acclimated to.
Hmm. This is US centric. Are these possibly first world problems? It's a shame that there are not examples from other parts of the world
I am from Germany and I have to say that I am completely shocked right now. I didn't know that it's that bad in America and I cannot imagine living like this. I feel so sorry...
A patriot wants what's best for the nation's long-term well-being : Healthy, educated, productive citizens. A corporation wants slavery and political anarchy. Guess who's winning in America?....
This American Society is on a suicide slide. If all you do is complain on Facebook it will not get better.
This is the stuff that makes me scared for my future, as a 15-year-old girl living in America. A lot of adults are making decisions that don't affect them, but do affect my generation and my life. I don't want to live life like what is shown here....
What did Trump call it? The greatest nation on earth. Deluded idiot.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again, USA is the worst place in the world and i'm yet to be convinced otherwise.
In the Netherlands, where I live, if your grandma dies and left you some money, the governement gets 70% of that. 70%!
I'm some countries women are executed, forced to marry, have their genitals mutilated all ignored by the article. This was clickbait.
For anyone wondering, America is a f****d up country, nothing to do with "freedom and democracy", just a pile of capitalist pigs and b******t.
This whole article made me sick. Not because of how “bad” the average American has it because of the anti-American tree-hugging liberally political agenda behind it. If you feel this country is so bad, leave.
This was an eye opening post. America has become such a s**t hole country since you know what.
We don't need a wall at the border. Just post this on some big billboards.
I worked for IKEA; in a year of record profits so high they made front page news; our Christmas bonus for nearly foundling profits: A two dollar scratch ticket.
ngl when my sister had to be in US for work for a month one time, she brought with her all the common meds she could take because we heard how ridiculous the price for medicine there. also she was so scared of the idea of forced tipping. how do you know how much to tip? or to who?
most of this article reads like some kind of thinly veiled communist propaganda piece. attacks on capitalism galore (what's your alternative? socialism? like that's any less dystopic? Dont' forget holodomir. I never will since my family actually died in it). The article does raise good points about the cost of ambulances, the injustices suffered by employees in the service sector and the shadiness of big government, but the idea that capitalism is our enemy is pretty ludicrous if you actually have any rudimentary knowledge of world history and economics. Capitalism is actually the only thing that is keeping us from having to stand in a bread line or have our roof collapse on our heads while we sleep like folks in socialist nations like Cuba do. I wish this site didn't always try to put a far-left twist on everything. You think the US is "dystopic" but you never saw and went through the things my family and I did in the USSR. Our dystopia made yours look like Beverly Hills!
How about making this a feature where the problems of certain counties are exposed? Then, our glorified views can be challenged.
If you are outraged by this article, you need to read The Bell Curve. It's your life story.
If You Want To Sell Any Product Or Promote Any Business, Posting On Classifieds Sites Are Very Effective And Fruitful. Because These Sites Have 100% Potential Customer And They Buy Their Actual Need. Classifieds Site Have Huge Level Of Targeted Traffic. https://www.fiverr.com/rakib035471/post-classified-ads-on-high-pr-ads-sites-in-usa?ref_ctx_id=6b01d1b2-6428-4469-b62a-8f0a74aef99a
*flips through dystopia notes from my writing* What the- these are basically the same. What in the wide wonky world?
Every time I hear something this twisted about America, I love my country a lot more. Imagine, most universities are FREE. You just have to be good enough to pass exams to get there and that is that. And if you find yourself in need of an ambulance, you pay NOTHING. You just get driven to the closest hospital, taken care of, because we all have health insurance. If you are suicidal, you get help, not more debts. Jesus, I knew Trump was an a*****e, but this isn't just about one dumb president, is it.
Since most of the pictures were actually pictures of tweets made by people who just don't know how the world works, or by people who have a vested interest in fostering fear and dismay and anger, I think we can come to one conclusion: THE number 1 contributor of dystopian depression is Twitter. Get rid of twitter and a whole lot of people might actually feel better about life. Barring that, just stop reading Twitter, okay? You're literally going to kill yourself with bad emotions for stuff that isn't even true. You are being played if you believe this stuff. And it's costing you your physical and mental health.
Health care cost became so expensive when business corps took over Healthcare to make a buck. The best hospital I ever worked at was run by Doctors, not business men.
This is why I love my home country Finland. I can ba a socalist and pay for the wellbeing of my fellow contrymen and wemen cause we have this thing called equity
This is pretty ridiculous. Stop trying to find s**t that you think is wrong and just go be a good person. Sheesh.
Tbh it's easier to die in America than live there...and this is coming from an American if that isn't depressing enough...
i know, maybe act instead of talk about all of these issues. No problems were ever solved by making up witty post's instead of actually contacting your state, congressman, maybe even put in an effort to write a letter or 5? thats the problem with America . Everyone wants to complain but when it comes to taking action ...crickets
I'm an American and this makes me want to scream and slam my head against the wall. If I could afford to move to another country, I would do it in a split second. THAT's how much this country has failed its citizens.
Not sure what nickname the generation that is responding to this post has. But it should be the PT Generation There's no Participation Trophy to sit back and want/demand what others work for. Thank your parents for misguiding you all
We must all remember, there never was a golden age, there is no land of utopia. I do agree though, we in the US need to consider copying those Scandanavian countries, but on healthcare, not just their damn trendy furniture and pop bands.
Here is a list of the "American Dreams", which that "society" is trying to push to the rest of the world, and whoever doesn't want to accept it, is either a "Communist" or "lives in a cave". I wish politicians of the world would stop kissing that capitalist a*s!
I was struck by something similar a short while ago: Earlier today I was on a celebrity gossip site (my secret guilty pleasure lol) and there were back to back articles about Cardi B and Miley Cyrus. The comments section of both pieces were dominated by someone I shall dub White Supremace Barbie. On the Cardi piece she dripped venom and disgust at how the singer talks, dresses, her entire way of life was deemed low-class and hideous. Miley though, according to WSB (the article tells us how Miley had a few years where she basically acted identical to Cardi), was "soooooo funny lolll" "My hero cuz she dgaf" etc. Scary thing was I'm sure he commentator herself was totally unaware of her blatant racial bias. She appeared to be half my age though, so I didn't even challenge the kid. Just left the website feeling a little bit more aware and scared sh**less at how much we are regressing. Sorry for the essay.
It is truly depressing when we see what we are deliberately doing to our own species. Please read my article entitled "Why are we doing this to ourselves?" which suggests how we could actually wipe out so many problems so easily. https://moralismblog.wordpress.com/2019/06/25/why-are-we-doing-this-to-ourselves/
When I was a teenager my dad was given the chance to move to the USA and the entire family got green cards and social security numbers. I’ve never been so happy that he turned down the job and we stayed where we are. While some of my family did go back in later years for a few months, no one wanted to live there full time and moved to Australia instead. :-)
I feel like most of these are American issues. I live in the USA, and I'm so sick of everything wrong with our country. My 11 year old sister is already worrying about affording college, and I actually felt guilty for calling an ambulance for my mom when I found out how much it had cost. When I go to school, I automatically make a plan for how I would get out of an school shooting. It cost $300 for me to go to Urgent Care and find out I've had Tendonitis in my wrist for 6 months. And, compared to the kids being held in cages, my family is lucky. I'm hoping I'll be able to save enough money to go to college in Canada, and hopefully live there when I'm old enough. For now I just get to sit and watch while my country falls to pieces :(
America: Land of the free for only the wealthy and the ultra-privileged. I was born here. I grew up here. I’m in poverty here, after struggling since age 15 to work in the “real world”, where your employer can abuse you to the point where you end up on disability (if you’re lucky; I COULD be homeless and worse off, but I suppose they could still drive me to that point with further social system cuts). What a shithole country. It is getting shittier by the month, as our current dumpster fire administration makes it even better to be rich and even worse to be poor. And yet, people support Trump and his cronies because they think he hates the same people they hate. No, the democrats weren’t fixing this s**t, either. Vote anti-corporate, or you will just be voting for more of the same. Under republicans, it’s like an impending disaster in realtime. Under democrats, it’s a boring dystopia that people are slowly acclimated to.
Hmm. This is US centric. Are these possibly first world problems? It's a shame that there are not examples from other parts of the world
I am from Germany and I have to say that I am completely shocked right now. I didn't know that it's that bad in America and I cannot imagine living like this. I feel so sorry...
A patriot wants what's best for the nation's long-term well-being : Healthy, educated, productive citizens. A corporation wants slavery and political anarchy. Guess who's winning in America?....
This American Society is on a suicide slide. If all you do is complain on Facebook it will not get better.
This is the stuff that makes me scared for my future, as a 15-year-old girl living in America. A lot of adults are making decisions that don't affect them, but do affect my generation and my life. I don't want to live life like what is shown here....
What did Trump call it? The greatest nation on earth. Deluded idiot.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again, USA is the worst place in the world and i'm yet to be convinced otherwise.
In the Netherlands, where I live, if your grandma dies and left you some money, the governement gets 70% of that. 70%!
I'm some countries women are executed, forced to marry, have their genitals mutilated all ignored by the article. This was clickbait.
For anyone wondering, America is a f****d up country, nothing to do with "freedom and democracy", just a pile of capitalist pigs and b******t.
This whole article made me sick. Not because of how “bad” the average American has it because of the anti-American tree-hugging liberally political agenda behind it. If you feel this country is so bad, leave.
This was an eye opening post. America has become such a s**t hole country since you know what.
We don't need a wall at the border. Just post this on some big billboards.
I worked for IKEA; in a year of record profits so high they made front page news; our Christmas bonus for nearly foundling profits: A two dollar scratch ticket.
ngl when my sister had to be in US for work for a month one time, she brought with her all the common meds she could take because we heard how ridiculous the price for medicine there. also she was so scared of the idea of forced tipping. how do you know how much to tip? or to who?
most of this article reads like some kind of thinly veiled communist propaganda piece. attacks on capitalism galore (what's your alternative? socialism? like that's any less dystopic? Dont' forget holodomir. I never will since my family actually died in it). The article does raise good points about the cost of ambulances, the injustices suffered by employees in the service sector and the shadiness of big government, but the idea that capitalism is our enemy is pretty ludicrous if you actually have any rudimentary knowledge of world history and economics. Capitalism is actually the only thing that is keeping us from having to stand in a bread line or have our roof collapse on our heads while we sleep like folks in socialist nations like Cuba do. I wish this site didn't always try to put a far-left twist on everything. You think the US is "dystopic" but you never saw and went through the things my family and I did in the USSR. Our dystopia made yours look like Beverly Hills!
How about making this a feature where the problems of certain counties are exposed? Then, our glorified views can be challenged.
If you are outraged by this article, you need to read The Bell Curve. It's your life story.
If You Want To Sell Any Product Or Promote Any Business, Posting On Classifieds Sites Are Very Effective And Fruitful. Because These Sites Have 100% Potential Customer And They Buy Their Actual Need. Classifieds Site Have Huge Level Of Targeted Traffic. https://www.fiverr.com/rakib035471/post-classified-ads-on-high-pr-ads-sites-in-usa?ref_ctx_id=6b01d1b2-6428-4469-b62a-8f0a74aef99a
*flips through dystopia notes from my writing* What the- these are basically the same. What in the wide wonky world?
Every time I hear something this twisted about America, I love my country a lot more. Imagine, most universities are FREE. You just have to be good enough to pass exams to get there and that is that. And if you find yourself in need of an ambulance, you pay NOTHING. You just get driven to the closest hospital, taken care of, because we all have health insurance. If you are suicidal, you get help, not more debts. Jesus, I knew Trump was an a*****e, but this isn't just about one dumb president, is it.
Since most of the pictures were actually pictures of tweets made by people who just don't know how the world works, or by people who have a vested interest in fostering fear and dismay and anger, I think we can come to one conclusion: THE number 1 contributor of dystopian depression is Twitter. Get rid of twitter and a whole lot of people might actually feel better about life. Barring that, just stop reading Twitter, okay? You're literally going to kill yourself with bad emotions for stuff that isn't even true. You are being played if you believe this stuff. And it's costing you your physical and mental health.
Health care cost became so expensive when business corps took over Healthcare to make a buck. The best hospital I ever worked at was run by Doctors, not business men.
This is why I love my home country Finland. I can ba a socalist and pay for the wellbeing of my fellow contrymen and wemen cause we have this thing called equity
This is pretty ridiculous. Stop trying to find s**t that you think is wrong and just go be a good person. Sheesh.
Tbh it's easier to die in America than live there...and this is coming from an American if that isn't depressing enough...
i know, maybe act instead of talk about all of these issues. No problems were ever solved by making up witty post's instead of actually contacting your state, congressman, maybe even put in an effort to write a letter or 5? thats the problem with America . Everyone wants to complain but when it comes to taking action ...crickets
I'm an American and this makes me want to scream and slam my head against the wall. If I could afford to move to another country, I would do it in a split second. THAT's how much this country has failed its citizens.
Not sure what nickname the generation that is responding to this post has. But it should be the PT Generation There's no Participation Trophy to sit back and want/demand what others work for. Thank your parents for misguiding you all
We must all remember, there never was a golden age, there is no land of utopia. I do agree though, we in the US need to consider copying those Scandanavian countries, but on healthcare, not just their damn trendy furniture and pop bands.
Here is a list of the "American Dreams", which that "society" is trying to push to the rest of the world, and whoever doesn't want to accept it, is either a "Communist" or "lives in a cave". I wish politicians of the world would stop kissing that capitalist a*s!
I was struck by something similar a short while ago: Earlier today I was on a celebrity gossip site (my secret guilty pleasure lol) and there were back to back articles about Cardi B and Miley Cyrus. The comments section of both pieces were dominated by someone I shall dub White Supremace Barbie. On the Cardi piece she dripped venom and disgust at how the singer talks, dresses, her entire way of life was deemed low-class and hideous. Miley though, according to WSB (the article tells us how Miley had a few years where she basically acted identical to Cardi), was "soooooo funny lolll" "My hero cuz she dgaf" etc. Scary thing was I'm sure he commentator herself was totally unaware of her blatant racial bias. She appeared to be half my age though, so I didn't even challenge the kid. Just left the website feeling a little bit more aware and scared sh**less at how much we are regressing. Sorry for the essay.
It is truly depressing when we see what we are deliberately doing to our own species. Please read my article entitled "Why are we doing this to ourselves?" which suggests how we could actually wipe out so many problems so easily. https://moralismblog.wordpress.com/2019/06/25/why-are-we-doing-this-to-ourselves/